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Jul 18, 2016 · 19m · top-founders

EP 359: Hit $2m Revenue Buy/Sell Other Athelets Gear On Cheap with Brendan Candon of SidelineSwap.com

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Brendan Candon · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews SidelineSwap co-founder and CEO Brendan Candon, discussing the startup's unit economics, 500 Startups growth, and journey to over $2 million in gross transaction volume.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 52.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.3 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 1.8
05100:0010:003:21–5:23 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Marketplace Take Rate, Unit Economics, and Revenue Nathan digs into the specific mechanics of SidelineSwap's take rate and walks through real-time math on a listing from their site. Brendan explains the unit economics clearly and straightforwardly with no friction.5:23–8:30 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 User Engagement, Growth Rates, and Gear Demographics Nathan clarifies run rate calculations vs monthly volume and questions the appeal of buying used sports gear. Brendan educates him on user demographics, savings for high school athletes, and the durable nature of the equipment.8:31–13:06 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Social Media Growth Engine and Seed Fundraising Goals Nathan presses Brendan on tactical Instagram growth methods, and inquires about fundraising mechanics like SAFE vs convertible notes. Brendan provides insight on his content strategy and market vision compared to Poshmark and Reverb.13:10–17:42 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Live Event Promotion and HostGator Sponsorship Ad Segment consists of sponsor ads, live event promotions, and the standard rapid-fire 'Famous Five' questions, presenting no friction or intellectual pushback.3:21–5:23 · Guest teaching 2/10 Marketplace Take Rate, Unit Economics, and Revenue Nathan digs into the specific mechanics of SidelineSwap's take rate and walks through real-time math on a listing from their site. Brendan explains the unit economics clearly and straightforwardly with no friction.5:23–8:30 · Guest teaching 3/10 User Engagement, Growth Rates, and Gear Demographics Nathan clarifies run rate calculations vs monthly volume and questions the appeal of buying used sports gear. Brendan educates him on user demographics, savings for high school athletes, and the durable nature of the equipment.8:31–13:06 · Guest teaching 3/10 Social Media Growth Engine and Seed Fundraising Goals Nathan presses Brendan on tactical Instagram growth methods, and inquires about fundraising mechanics like SAFE vs convertible notes. Brendan provides insight on his content strategy and market vision compared to Poshmark and Reverb.13:10–17:42 · Guest teaching 0/10 Live Event Promotion and HostGator Sponsorship Ad Segment consists of sponsor ads, live event promotions, and the standard rapid-fire 'Famous Five' questions, presenting no friction or intellectual pushback.3:21–5:23 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Marketplace Take Rate, Unit Economics, and Revenue Nathan digs into the specific mechanics of SidelineSwap's take rate and walks through real-time math on a listing from their site. Brendan explains the unit economics clearly and straightforwardly with no friction.5:23–8:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 User Engagement, Growth Rates, and Gear Demographics Nathan clarifies run rate calculations vs monthly volume and questions the appeal of buying used sports gear. Brendan educates him on user demographics, savings for high school athletes, and the durable nature of the equipment.8:31–13:06 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Social Media Growth Engine and Seed Fundraising Goals Nathan presses Brendan on tactical Instagram growth methods, and inquires about fundraising mechanics like SAFE vs convertible notes. Brendan provides insight on his content strategy and market vision compared to Poshmark and Reverb.13:10–17:42 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Live Event Promotion and HostGator Sponsorship Ad Segment consists of sponsor ads, live event promotions, and the standard rapid-fire 'Famous Five' questions, presenting no friction or intellectual pushback.3:21–5:23 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Marketplace Take Rate, Unit Economics, and Revenue Nathan digs into the specific mechanics of SidelineSwap's take rate and walks through real-time math on a listing from their site. Brendan explains the unit economics clearly and straightforwardly with no friction.5:23–8:30 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 User Engagement, Growth Rates, and Gear Demographics Nathan clarifies run rate calculations vs monthly volume and questions the appeal of buying used sports gear. Brendan educates him on user demographics, savings for high school athletes, and the durable nature of the equipment.8:31–13:06 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Social Media Growth Engine and Seed Fundraising Goals Nathan presses Brendan on tactical Instagram growth methods, and inquires about fundraising mechanics like SAFE vs convertible notes. Brendan provides insight on his content strategy and market vision compared to Poshmark and Reverb.13:10–17:42 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Live Event Promotion and HostGator Sponsorship Ad Segment consists of sponsor ads, live event promotions, and the standard rapid-fire 'Famous Five' questions, presenting no friction or intellectual pushback.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 62.1% · guest 37.9%0:00 · Nathan 62.1% · guest 37.9%3:00 · Nathan 39.7% · guest 60.3%3:00 · Nathan 39.7% · guest 60.3%6:00 · Nathan 30% · guest 70%6:00 · Nathan 30% · guest 70%9:00 · Nathan 31.9% · guest 68.1%9:00 · Nathan 31.9% · guest 68.1%12:00 · Nathan 76.7% · guest 23.3%12:00 · Nathan 76.7% · guest 23.3%15:00 · Nathan 48.7% · guest 51.3%15:00 · Nathan 48.7% · guest 51.3%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 6:59 Clarifying monthly volume vs run rate

Brendan gently counters Nathan's extrapolation of run rate numbers to clarify actual monthly figures from April and May.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 10:19 Pressing on Instagram follower acquisition tactics

Nathan interrupts and demands the exact tactical blueprint for gaining Instagram followers rather than high-level commentary.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:26 Explaining the used gear market dynamics

Brendan reframes Nathan's skepticism about buying used athletic gear by detailing durable goods economics and high school sports culture.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 3:53 Real-time fee calculation on live product listing

Nathan demonstrates marketplace expertise by navigating the live site and calculating the exact take-rate deduction and shipping splits.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Marketplace Take Rate, Unit Economics, and Revenue 6212 Nathan digs into the specific mechanics of SidelineSwap's take rate and walks through real-time math on a listing from their site. Brendan explains the unit economics clearly and straightforwardly with no friction.
User Engagement, Growth Rates, and Gear Demographics 5312 Nathan clarifies run rate calculations vs monthly volume and questions the appeal of buying used sports gear. Brendan educates him on user demographics, savings for high school athletes, and the durable nature of the equipment.
Social Media Growth Engine and Seed Fundraising Goals 6313 Nathan presses Brendan on tactical Instagram growth methods, and inquires about fundraising mechanics like SAFE vs convertible notes. Brendan provides insight on his content strategy and market vision compared to Poshmark and Reverb.
Live Event Promotion and HostGator Sponsorship Ad 0000 Segment consists of sponsor ads, live event promotions, and the standard rapid-fire 'Famous Five' questions, presenting no friction or intellectual pushback.

Statements from this episode (11)

Disclosure
SidelineSwap raised a $120K angel round in early 2015
“Eventually got enough to raise an angel round to raise about a 120,000 at the beginning of 2015, rebuilt the site, and launched a new version in June of 2015, and that's kind of when things started to take off, and we quit, quit our jobs and went full time in …”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 2:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SidelineSwap did $400K in sales and under $40K in revenue in 2015
“Top line, we did about 400,000 in sales. We took 12% of that, so our revenue was about, like, just under 40,000.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 4:55
Prediction Not checkable as stated
SidelineSwap is pacing $2M in 2016 sales with $240K revenue run-rate
“So our current run rate is about 240,000 for revenue. So we're on base to over two million in sales.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 5:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SidelineSwap has 12,000 monthly active users
“So we have about 12,000 monthly active users, so that means just come onto the platform, are socially engaged.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 5:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SidelineSwap has 6,000 all-time buyers and 3,000 sellers
“And then buyers all-time, we probably have, I think we have about 6000 buyers since last June, and about 3000 sellers.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 5:58
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Candon: SidelineSwap average order value is $75
“It's 75 bucks.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 6:19
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SidelineSwap grew 15% month-over-month over the past six months
“So, we've been growing about, like, 15% month over month for the past five or six months.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 6:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SidelineSwap generated $100K in sales in April 2016 and $150K in May
“We did a 100,000 sales in April, ah, a 150,000 in that.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 7:02
Insight
Social media growth tricks only work for the first couple thousand followers
“I think you have to get a base, and like, however you get your first couple thousand, there's a lot of tricks for that. But once you do it shifts into this quality game of, you can only do tricks for so long, and then you have to build, like, a really solid co…”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 11:19
Disclosure
SidelineSwap is raising a $1.5M convertible note
“We're raising about 1.5 million on a note.”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 11:53
Opinion
The sports equipment industry is a $60B market waiting for a marketplace
“No one's done it in sports, and that's our goal, is to be the marketplace for athletes. I think it's a sixty billion dollar industry”
Brendan Candon Jul 18, 2016 ▶ 12:32
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